Devil's Hollow
by katalina0525
Summary: Just a little SSX Halloween story! One shot. Allegra, Griff, Mac, Elise, and Psymon.


**Since Halloween is coming up very soon (Two days!!!) I decided to do a little SSX one-shot. It's not really meant to be a horror story; I just let you decide the ending for yourself :D Enjoy, and tell me what you thought if you have the time!**

**_~Devil's Hollow~_**

"Allegra, I don't want to do this!" Griff cried. "I'm scared!"

Allegra rolled her eyes. "Yeah?" she said, turning to face him. "Well sometimes in life you have to do things you don't want to. Haven't your parents ever taught you that?"

Allegra blinked, realizing that that was a pretty dumb thing to say. She and Griff were here on a dare, after all, and no one should be forced to participate in a dare if they really don't want to. But still. She thought Griff was being such a baby about the whole situation.

"You're 13 years old, kid," she said in order to make up for her idiotic comment. "Have a little sense of adventure."

She continued up the snowy hill, head held high, as if to show that she wasn't scared. Griff stumbled a few times, trying his best to keep up with her. He couldn't even fake bravery. "But what if Psymon's right?" he murmured. "What if there really _is _a ghost in that house?"

Allegra sighed heavily. "There's no such thing as ghosts, Griff. That's something else I would hope your parents taught you at some point-"

"Yo! What up, homies?" A familiar voice shouted across the way. "'Bout time you slow pokes showed up!"

Allegra looked ahead and saw her friend Mac, dressed in his usual baggy pants and hooded sweatshirt. Standing next to him were two of her other fellow competitors; Elise, and of course Psymon-the one who had thought of this ridiculous dare in the first place.

"Hey, dudes," Allegra said once she and Griff had joined them. "What's the deal? We doing this or what?"

Psymon spoke before anyone else could. "Heck yeah we're doin' it. None of you whimps are backing down now, got it? You're here, so you've basically just registered yourselves for a night of sheer TERROR."

Allegra heard Griff gulp. Mac, on the other hand, let out a _pfft._

"Yeah, but you just had to pick tonight didn't you?" he said. "I'm peeved, dude, won't lie. I wanted to go trick or treating!"

Elise snapped her head in Mac's direction. "Oh puh leez," she spat. "We're all _way _past the age of trick or treating. Well, except for Griff, maybe-"

"Hey, this is _free candy _we're talkin' about here, dawg!" Mac exclaimed. "I gave up an entire bag of freakin' free candy just so I could come ghost hunting with you people!"

Elise rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, I'm sure that was _so _difficult for you. Tell me, Mac-"

"Oh will you both shut up already?" Allegra snapped. "Let's just get this over with so Griff will stop shaking."

Immediately everyone looked at Griff. The 12-year-old laughed weakly, and attempted a brave smile. None of them fell for it, naturally.

"You know, if you're that scared you can just stay behind," Elise told him. "I know when I first came to BIG Mountain I was terrified of all the Devil's Hallow stories-"

"Heck no he's NOT staying behind!" Psymon shouted before Elise could continue. "We all agreed that we would meet here on Halloween night and actually go _inside _the house and not be a bunch of weenies!"

"Yeah, but Devil's Hallow _is _a really old house, dawg," Mac pointed out. "What if the floor caves in on us or somethin'?"

Psymon rolled his eyes. "The house isn't _that _old-"

"Uh, yeah it is," Elise spoke. "It was built over 300 years ago; some even say it was the first house ever built on BIG Mountain."

Griff shuddered. "B-by who?" he whispered.

Elise shrugged. "Supposedly by some family who wanted to get away from civilization. They thought they could endure the ice and freezing temperatures of the mountain. They were _so _wrong. In one of the stories, the whole family died by-"

"Aaah!" Griff covered his ears. "Don't say anymore! Please, Elise, _please._ I'm begging you!"

Allegra glowered at Elise. The blonde shrugged again. "I'm not saying any of those stories are true. I'm just telling you what people have told me." Allegra was still glaring, so she quickly added, "They're probably all just made up. They didn't even start calling the place Devil's Hallow until after it was totally abandoned about 50 years ago, and that's when all the stupid ghost stories started."

"They're not stupid," Psymon insisted. "They're _facts_. Pure facts! We're about to see it for ourselves tonight!"

By then Allegra was sure that Griff would burst into tears. Feeling bad, she decided to try and shift the subject.

"Actually," she said. "I really don't think it's the ghosts we need to worry about. It's the cults."

Mac gaped at her. "Cults? Yo what the heck are you _talkin' _about?"

"She's right," Elise said. "Supposedly there are cults who come out to this place, particularly on Halloween night, and perform Satanic rituals and what-not. It's kind of like a secret base for them."

Shaking his head, Mac turned to Psymon. "I don't know about this, dawg. Cults?"

Psymon let out a hiss. "I knew it. You're all just a bunch of WEENIES!"

"I don't care, dawg!" Mac shouted back. "I don't want to run into a bunch of freakazoids making human sacrifices!"

"Sacrifices?" Griff shrieked, gripping Allegra's arm as tight as he could. "I'm not going in there! You can't make me!"

Elise said, "Of course we're not going to make you. In fact, I'd say this pretty much calls the whole thing off."

All eyes were on Psymon, who sighed in irritation after a few long moments of silence. "Yeah, yeah, fine," he mumbled. "I always knew you guys were whimps."

Elise snorted. "Well excuse us for not wanting to be human sacrifices," she spat.

"And excuse _me_ for leavin' you guys here and goin' trick or treating instead," Mac said. He took a few strides forward, then stopped. "Unless, of course, any of you would like to join me?"

Allegra glanced down at Griff. The kid still looked like he was about ready to pee his pants. "I guess me and Griff'll come," she said with a sigh. "Now I'll walk the neighborhoods with you guys, but I am NOT going to any doors or putting on a costume!" She stopped herself, then added, "Unless, of course, you can find me a sexy one."

As they began to retreat down the hill, Psymon growled. "Fine then! You all can just be a bunch of CHICKENS. Bawk, bawk, baawwwk! Oh yeah, that's right. You heard me!"

Next to him, Elise rolled her eyes. "I don't think they really care."

But Psymon was nowhere near finished. "CHICKENS!" he continued to shout. "Ooho look at me I'm Mac and I'm SO COOL. I talk like a gangsta!"

"Psymon-"

"Well you know what, Mac? You're not cool at all! You're nothing but a PANSY! And don't even get me started on YOU, Allegra! Or Griff, ya sissy little-"

WACK!

Elise slapped Psymon across the face. "Oh give it a break, would you?" she said. "Let them go on their lame little trick or treating extravaganza while we check this place out."

She turned and began walking toward the abandoned house, fresh snow crunching under her boots with every step.

For a moment Psymon just stared at her, shocked. "Uh, wait," he finally spoke. "So this means you're going?"

Elise stopped. "Of course. What does it look like I'm doing?"

Psymon stood frozen for a few more seconds, as if not comprehending. Then he blinked and hurried after her.

"So uh, what made you change your mind all of a sudden?"

Elise looked up, extending her arm outward. "The snow," she explained. "There's no foot prints. And it hasn't snowed in the last 48 hours, so unless someone's camping out in there, we can be pretty sure we won't run into any cults."

Psymon nodded. "Smart," he muttered. "So uh, why didn't you point that out before?"

Elise let out one of Mac's _pfft_s.

"Isn't it obvious?" she said. "I didn't want Griff coming with us. He would've ruined everything. Not to mention Mac is annoying as hell, and Allegra probably would've just complained the whole time." She paused, averting her eyes forward. "So it's better this way."

By then they'd reached the old house. It looked even worse up close than it had at a distance. The front entrance was closed off by two wooden planks that had been nailed across the door in the shape of an X. Most of the windows were boarded up as well, and the bricks that made up the front porch were randomly dislodged, making it appear unsafe.

"Hmm." Psymon scratched his chin thoughtfully. "You sure you wanna go in there?"

Elise let out an exasperated sigh. "I knew you'd chicken out too," she said. "Typical. You act like you're so tough in the beginning, but when the time actually comes for you to be a-"

By then Psymon was already on the first porch step. Elise remained where she was, arms tightly crossed across her chest.

It took a minute or two, but after Psymon had used next to all his strength in attempt to pull out the planks, it finally became apparent that entering through the front door wasn't a possibility.

"Well, doesn't look like we're gonna be able to get in," Psymon announced. "It's a shame, but-"

"Oh please," Elise cut him off. "We'll just go in through a window."

Psymon craned his neck to the left, then to the right. "Uh, all the windows have boards on 'em too."

Elise rolled her eyes. "Follow me." She began walking around the left side of the house, and motioned for Psymon to follow. After a short moment's hesitation, he trudged after her. She led him to the back of the house, where there was a relatively large window with no boards or planks around it. It was also broken, conveniently enough.

"It's a bit of a step," she warned him, swinging her leg over the window sill. "But I think you can manage."

Psymon stared at Elise, who was now standing completely inside the house. Something was bothering him. Something he couldn't quite put a finger on. "Have you like…been here before or something?"

Through the open window, Elise eyed him strangely. "Why would you say something like that?"

"I dunno. You just kinda seemed like you knew this window was back here."

Elise rolled her eyes. "Cults get in here all the time, Psymon. Don't you remember me telling you that? It was obvious there had to be a way in _somewhere_." She turned so that her back was to him. "_Well_? Are you coming or not?"

Something still didn't feel quite right to Psymon. Why was Elise acting so strange? At the first she hadn't seemed too thrilled about the idea of entering an old abandoned house. But now…now she was so confident, as if this whole thing was her idea to begin with. Which it wasn't. It had been _his _idea, and now, ironically, he was the one who felt that maybe they shouldn't go through with it after all.

"Elise?" Psymon suddenly realized that the blonde had disappeared into the dark house. "Elise? Where the heck are ya?"

There was no reply.

Psymon fidgeted. This couldn't be good.

"ELISE?"

He leaned his head through the open window, straining to see something…anything. But it was no use. The inside of the house was pitch black.

Reaching into his pockets, Psymon searched desperately for a flashlight. He pulled out a box of matches, a 25 cent rubber ball, 3 quarters, a plastic wall socket, and FINALLY, a small flashlight! He clicked the button several times. Luckily, the battery was still good.

"Elise?" He growled. "This better not be some kinda trick."

He climbed over the window with ease, holding the flashlight directly in front of him, as if it were some kind of shield. From what little he could see, the house was empty. The floor had caved in a few areas, but it was nothing that he couldn't avoid.

"Elise?" He continued to call out to her, slowly edging forward. "Hellooo?"

That's when he heard a scream.

"ELISE?" Psymon shouted. "Was that you?"

He hurried to the next room as quickly as he dared, being sure not to step on any of the bad floorboards. "Elise?"

But the next room was empty as well.

"All right. Enough of that!" Psymon shouted, his tone very serious. "This was a BAD IDEA. Ok? I admit it. Now will you stop trying to scare the freakin' crap out of me? It's bad enough that-"

A pair of strong hands grabbed him from behind, digging harshly into his shoulders.

Psymon let out a noise that sounded like a combination of a yelp and a gasp. "HOLY SHIT-"

"Psymon!"

Psymon spun to face his attacker. Immediately he let out a breath of relief. It was only Elise.

"Elise, what the hell do you think you're-"

"Psymon, we need to get out of here!" There was desperation in her voice. Looking closer, Psymon actually saw that there were tears streaming down her face. "Please. We need to leave NOW."

"All right, all right." Psymon took her arm. "Come on, the window's back this way-"

"NO!" Elise yanked him back. "We can't go that way!"

Psymon frowned. He didn't know whether he was more angry or confused. "What are you _talking _about?"

"It's true, Psymon." Elise's voice was shaking. "The stories on BIG Mountain. I never believed them, but they're...they're here!"

Psymon's eyes widened. He didn't believe the stories himself. Earlier, he'd only been trying to scare Griff; to spice up the dare a little. But now…now he wasn't so sure. He'd never seen Elise like this before.

"Ok, whatever, we're leaving." Psymon began leading her towards the nearest window. He was pretty sure that he would be able to kick the boards and glass in. "We'll climb out this window-"

That's when suddenly, Elise let out a horrific scream. Psymon turned to see what was wrong, and that's when he saw them.

"You've gotta be kidding me."

Boy were he and Elise going to have an interesting story for the papers.


End file.
